'The first thing I do when I wake up is walk my dog. She is the decision maker at this point in the day and she likes to start early - so I'm up at 6am. I go to the gym two mornings a week, which I think is the key to survival after 40. What I've found is that exercise really helps your brain.
I drop my six-year-old daughter at school on the way to my offices on 54th Street and 5th Avenue. The location is great because it's close to the diamond district and the biggest retailers in New York - we have Louis Vuitton and many of the jewellers just a few blocks up the street .
I get to the office around 8.30am and it's usually quiet. The phone calls have not started, so it's a good time to read e-mails and look at the day's appointments. I also take time to plan my trips. I try to get to most of the [international] jewellery shows - not to sell, but to find stones and keep in touch with all my dealers.
One of the two big fairs in the US is in Tucson, Arizona. It started as a gem fair where you could find really interesting stone specimens. But now, because everyone is talking about it, it's becoming like all the other fairs.
All the big diamond and stone dealers are there. I go for the smaller speciality gem and stone dealers outside the big tents - you can always find the big brands later in Switzerland, Hong Kong or Las Vegas.
In terms of jewellery design, Taffin [my own company] is all about colours, so there is no overlap in my work with white diamonds for Sotheby's [for whom he is a creative director]. It's a challenge to keep the diamond as the centre focus while still bringing in the design. The collaboration has worked well.